The objective of this research is to prepare the foundation for a longitudinal investigation of the effects of retirement on identity structure. The theoretical assumption in this work is that individuals have multiple identities that are organized in ways that enhance or block their experiences of satisfaction and, as a consequence, affect their physical and mental health as well as other aspects of their well-being. The aim of this pilot study is to test and, if necessary, refine a free-response method of eliciting identities and to validate a new method of representing their asymmetric relationships. Identities and their attendant features will be elicited from 32 subjects, half male and half female, divided equally across 4 "retirement process" years. Subjects will rate their identities in terms of preferences, importance and frequencies of enactment. They will also complete a life contentment/satisfaction questionnaire. These data will form the basis of a statistical validation of the new method. Validation of a more qualitative sort will come from information given by the subjects in response to diagrammatic feedback given them showing the relationships among their identities and through intensive studies of the lives of 8 of the subjects.